Principles
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The following principles guide my activity on Wikipedia:
- Wikipedia ought to be an Encyclopedia, not a soapbox, a forum, a usenet news group, a battleground, or a platform for the display of personal power.
- I try to take the position of someone genuinely looking for information (which I often am.) Do I want every possible issue related to a subject? No. I generally want an overview with options to go on to more detailed aspects of the subject. Overload of detail means unreadability.
- Multiple differing points of view are not NPOV. There is no scale or metric for evaluating the weight of competing points of view. NPOV (to me) means neutral and objective language. There are an indeterminate number of points of view on any subject, and including all of them leads to an overload of detail and unreadability.
- I try to stay away from contributing to articles about which I know nothing or, worse, know enough to have a specific point of view. It's important here to be aware of my own blind spots.
- I am absolutely disrespectful of anonymous edits that have substantive contributions or consequences. If you know (or think you know) enough about a subject to make such contributions then you need to have the Moxie to stand behind what you contribute.
- I am the intellectual child of the late Marcello Truzzi, my undergraduate advisor and friend for many years. This gives me a rather jaded view of those who see themselves as skeptics but, in fact, are not skeptical of their own skepticism.
- I have seen (and experienced) the development of Warlord communities, cabals and structures on Wikipedia. There is a community of insiders who isolate themselves. This is inherently dangerous. I have tried, when possible, to work through consensus and am inalterably opposed to bullying, lawyering, pinhead dancing, or any sort of jackboot thuggery in the development of the encyclopedia.
- There are vandals, advocates, contentious people and narcissists on Wikipedia. Most editors are not any of those but are simply trying to help add knowledge and defend against the barbarians. They should helped and included, not treated as the enemy.
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